The charging of colloidal particles using mixed surfactants in apolar media is investigated. Previous work has shown that one can predict the sign and magnitude of particle charge by comparing the acid-base properties of an oil-soluble surfactant to the acid-base properties of a specific particle. The present work sought to tune the acid-base properties by using mixed surfactants. Unexpected mineral oxide particle charging results were obtained however, from mixing the acidic surfactant sorbitan monooleate (SPAN 80), with the basic surfactant polyisobutylene succinimide (OLOA 11000), requiring further investigation into the mixed reverse co-micelle particle charging mechanism. Conductometric titrations and small-angle neutron and x-ray scattering measurements showed that the surfactant mixtures formed spherical reverse co-micelles. Quartz crystal microbalance adsorption measurements demonstrated that both surfactants can adsorb to the particle surface. Lastly, electrophoretic mobility measurements showed that the surfactant mixture produced negative particle charging for nearly all surfactant ratios, and a greater magnitude of negative charging than that produced by the OLOA 11000 surfactant alone. It was discovered that in the mixed surfactant system studied, the basic surfactant would charge the hydroxyl groups on both the oxide surface, and the adsorbed acidic surfactant head groups. The results showed that particle charging behavior in apolar media using mixed micelles requires knowledge beyond that for the individual surfactants and their proportions in the mixture.
